Individuals seeking a quote for an insurance policy premium, applying for coverage under a new insurance policy, or modifying an existing insurance policy generally must submit information that the insurance provider will then use to determine the appropriate premium amount. Increasingly, such information may be submitted using an electronic, on-line form. Typically, an individual enters personal information such as his or her name, birth date and address, as well as other information pertaining to the individual's house, condominium, vehicle, or other property that is (or would be) covered under the insurance policy. In some situations, however, the individual may experience difficulty in providing information that is requested by the insurance company. For example, an insurance application may ask a customer to indicate whether a fireplace in his or her home is a “free-standing fireplace,” “traditional fireplace,” or “insert fireplace,” and the customer may be uncertain as to how to properly categorize the fireplace. As another example, a request for an insurance premium quote may ask a customer to indicate which of multiple types of construction were used for the exterior of the customer's home, and the customer may be unable to distinguish between “brick” and “brick veneer” options.
Today, a person faced with such uncertainty may have one or more options for assistance. For example, a current or potential customer may access on-line help that provides a detailed explanation of the various options, or may call, email or initiate an on-line chat with an insurance agent or help desk employee for assistance. Each of these solutions, however, has drawbacks that may lead to a sub-optimal customer experience. For example, detailed descriptions contained in on-line help may take a significant amount of time to read and understand, and in any case may be insufficient to answer the customer's question. Moreover, the customer may be reluctant or unable to contact an agent or other customer service representative for various reasons. For example, the customer may be very self-sufficient, without a phone or at a location with poor cellular service, and/or unwilling to take the time to initiate contact with an employee and wait for an answer. If the conventional techniques of providing assistance are unsuccessful for these and/or other reasons, the frustrated customer may either take a guess (and risk providing inaccurate information), or fail to provide the requested information entirely.
Similar drawbacks may present themselves in other scenarios that do not necessarily involve the use of on-line forms. If an insurance provider reviews its records and determines that additional information is needed from a particular customer regarding one or more objects (e.g., a fireplace, exterior wall, garage, roof, etc.), for example, any ensuing attempts to collect that information may consume resources of the insurance provider (e.g., agent time) and be bothersome for the customer. For example, the agent may need to call the customer and ask for the missing information and, if the customer cannot immediately supply the missing information, the customer may need to go to the location of the object(s) while receiving telephone guidance from the agent as to how the object(s) should be classified.